sunlight evaporates water. It’s a distilling process. Water vapor condenses in the atmosphere and comes back down.

Cosmic Rays

Damaging rays. UV causes skin cancer.

Carbon Cycle

Two processes:
Photosynthesis
Plants. Take sunlight energy and combine CO2 and water into a sugar called glucose.
Provides energy for almost all organisms on the planet.
Respiration
We take sugar and combust it biologically and release energy. This is the energy we live on. We also release some waste. Plants take these back up, make more sugar, we combust, etc etc.

Triatomic or Larger
Carbon dioxide, water vapor, ozone, nitrous oxide, methane, freons, NOx, SOx, etc.
Need a central atom from which to vibrate.
Most atmospheric gases are diatomic (99%).
The central atom acts as a fulcrum so that the other 2 can vibrate against. Has to vibrate to re-radiate that energy after absorption occurs.

Global Warming

Increasing amounts of gases in the atmosphere. Temeperature changes are happening much faster than before

UV A reaches the ground.
UV B tends to get better filtered
UV C is essentially all filtered out
The problem today is that the filtering process is becoming less efficient. UV B now comes through as well which means higher energy and more destruction to our skin.

Ozone in the troposphere

Can be quite destructive. Very corrosive to the lungs. Created by baked industrial processes, lawn mowers, trucks, and other volatile organic compounds.

Ozone in the stratosphere

Good. Filters harum ultraviolet rays.

Oxygen gets split up into atomic oxygen (highly reactive). Those react w/ other oxygens to form ozone. Goes from UV energy to infrared energy (lower form of energy). UV -> heat

Cholorfluorocarbons

Created by Refrigernats, spray propllants, plastic foam blowing (styrofoam).
CFS are great for refrigeration. Good compressibility and relatively inert.
With increase in CFC came drop in ozone because they started escaping (especially during fridge repairs).

Freons

Made of carbon and a halogen (chlorine or fluorine). Quite stable

Ozone depletion

Particularly acute at the poles

Ozone reduction by freons

CFC are source of cholrine radical. Freaon + UV = chlorine in form of free radical. Attacks ozone and converts it to Oxygen. Now you have one oxygen on cl. Atomic oxygen comes along to release Cl and to form oxygen (o2). Reaction starts all over again.

Acids

Donate an H+
Measured as pH
Strong acids donate readily.

Bases

Accept an H+ or donate -OH.

Acid rain

occurs in highly industrialized areas.
Winds can cause acid rain somewhere else even though it is caused in another area. Northa AMerica to Europe.

Amount of oxygen required for degradation of a pollutant over 5 days at room temp. Fish in the pond aphyxiate due to a rusting car.
Biological Oxygen Deamnd: Amount of oxygen required for degradation of a pollutant by microbes over 5 days at room temp.

Sewage treatment

reduce the oxygen demanding substances released in the environment

Accelerated Eutrophication

Nitrates and phosphates are plant fertilizers taht cause excessive plant growth in the summer. In the fall, plants die off and form deritus. Contributes to high BOD in the water. Microbes consume the detrius and oxygen.
Fish asphyxiate.

oil begins to dissolve when released in sea water (dissolution).
Aromatic hydrocharbons are most important chemicals in terms of toxicity.

Remediation technique

Recovery – removal via the use of booms, collecting agents (e.g. straw), and mechanical skimmers.
Burning – combustion only works well on fresh oil.
Sinking – use of agents that cause oil to sink to the bottom of the sea.
Dispersal – use of detergents (dispersants) to disperse oil into the water column and off the surface.
Bioremediation – Use of bacteria to degrade the oil.

MIcells

Break up oil into smaller and smaller portions until it is digested by bacteria.

Efficacy

How well does it work? relative ranking of the effectiveness of different remediation techniques with various oils and under varying sea state conditions

Aerobic Microbes

Utilize oxygen to perform aerobic respiration. We like these

anaerobic microbes

utilize sulfur or nitrogen to perform any anerobic respirtion. Givee off methane, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia. Gives off some toxic chemicals.

Bioremediation

use of biological organisms to alleviate the problems associated with toxic chemicals or other chemical wastes.
Organism Types – Selected organisms can be bacteria, fungi, plants, etc.

Natural Bacteria

bioremediation: tend to be adapted for the local environment; disadvantage is the products they produce from a waste may be unknown and toxic (intrinsic bioremediation).

cloned bacteria

Advantage is that they can be selected based upon the known non-toxic products they produce; disadvantage is that they might not be adapted for the local environment (enhanced bioremediation).

chemicals subject to bioremediation

TCE and other cleaning solvents in groundwater.
Pesticides such as DDT and atrazine in sediments.
Crude oil in coastal estuaries.
Gasoline in groundwater from station storage tanks.
Sewage – normal treatment and in groundwater from sewer pipe seepage.

Dinoflagellates

Swimming Plants.
Most toxic plankton are dinoflagellates – 24 spp.
They are photosynthetic.
They have whip-like flagella for swimming.
They are filter fed by fishes.
Produce light – bioluminescence (warning for native Americans

Alexandrium spp.

type of dinoflagellate
Saxitoxins (STX) - “ I can’t breathe!” (Taken up by molluscs)
Also known as gonyaulax toxin and paralytic shellfish poison.
Tends to arise in summer blooms – months without an “R.”
Filter fed by bivalves, anchovies and sardines.
Causes vomiting and respiratory paralysis.
California coast is quarantined annually.

Type of dinoflagellate
Ciguatoxin (CTX)- “I can’t feel hot and cold!”
Also known as ciguatera poison.
Produced by a photosynthetic benthic dinoflagellate.
Found in the tropics, rests and grows on other algae.
Grazed upon by many tropical reef fishes and moluscs.
Causes nausea, vomiting, and paralysis (rarely lethal).
Reverses temperature sensation!

Diatoms

Tend to be needle-shaped single cells.
They are photosynthetic and have silica walls.
They exist in colonies of long chains.
They tend to bloom in the spring.

“I can’t move!”
Also known as fugu poison, produced by bacteria.
In red algae, some salamanders, and blue-ringed octopus.
Also in puffer fishes, sunfishes, and porcupine fishes.
In puffer fishes, TTX is concentrated in the ovaries and liver.
Causes respiratory paralysis, and is super toxic.

Fugu

Raw pufferfish, considered a delicacy in Japan.
A tingle in the mouth and tongue is considered desirable.
Prepared by licensed chefs.
Some 200 people per year die from bad fugu.
In puffer fishes, TTX is concentrated in the ovaries and liver.
Causes respiratory paralysis, and is super toxic.

Langerhans cell

protects from microbes. Allergy response

Melonacyte

pigment of the skin. Protect from UV light. When exposed to UV light, make pigment and donate pigment. Can be targets of melanoma.

Hydrated Skin

Makes it easier for things to get in.

Fossil fuels

Coal – A form of carbon that is derived from the heat/pressure degradation of swamp plants.
Coal – As determined by carbon and water content, found as anthracite, bituminous coal, or lignite.
Oil/Natural Gas – Hydrocarbon mixtures that are derived from the heat/pressure degradation of marine phytoplankton.

Oil consists of

Alkanes (hydrocarbons), Alkenes, Alkynes, Aromatics

Fractional Distillation of Crude Oil

Oil consists of literally hundreds of organic chemicals.
Carbon lengths vary from C1 to about C60.
Different size hydrocarbons have different uses.
Hydrocarbons can be separated into size “fractions.”
Separation involves using their unique boiling points.
Boiling point = the temperature at which a chemical transitions between as liquid and a gas.

The splitting of larger hydrocarbons into smaller ones.
About 25 to 45% of a barrel of crude oil can be distilled into gasoline.
Used to make more gasoline (C5 to C9) from the heating oil (C15 to C18) fraction.
Commonly done to meet summer driving demand

Octane Rating of Gasoline

Gasoline consists of straight and branched alkanes.
If consisting of all straight alkanes, they ignite before the spark = premature ignition (“knocking”).
n-Heptane causes the most pre-ignition, so it is “0.”
Iso-octane (2,2,4-trimethylpentane) is the best burning branched alkane, so its rating is set at “100.”
Gasoline mixtures are rated by comparison to standard mixtures of n-heptane and iso-octane

Octane Enhancers

The octane rating of gasoline can be enhanced.
Reforming can be used to convert straight alkanes to branched alkanes.
Until 1975 TEL was used as a less expensive means.
Until recently MTBE was used.
Methanol and ethanol (gasahol) are now used.

Problems with Octane Enhancers

Branched alkanes are too expensive.
TEL simply degrades to lead, which is highly toxic and does not further degrade.
MTBE is both volatile and soluble in water, noxious, and has a low odor and taste threshold.
Methanol and ethanol (gasahol) are now used, but easily absorb water and are expensive.

toxicology

the study of the interations between organism and chemical

Ebers

Egyptian payrus that is the earliest toxicological document written

Discorides:

First to classify toxics into categories of animal, vegetable, mineral

abnomral concentration of a chemical in the environment that is above the NOEL

Three physical environments/compartments

lithosphere
hydrosphere
atmosphere
also biosphere (organsims)

transport

movement of chemical within a compartment

percolation:

chemicals travel through water moving through soil

partitioning

when a chemical's movement travel between compartments

biomagnification

study of chemical movement in the
= bioaccumulation - bioconcentration
weaknesses of the model: chemicals can be lost through each level by excretion or detoxification; organisms can absorb chemicals not just through food.

bioconcentration

represents uptake of chemicals via water, soil, air

bioaccumulation

represents cheimcal uptake via all routes

strabo:

observed that miners who mined for arcenic died young

Beaver pelt hats

hats required mercuric nitrate. People who chronically wore the hats developed tremors.

solvents

alkanes(hydrocarbons). Made from crude oil. Generally used as solvents and fuels.

alochols

HO in their molecular structure
Methanol: causes blindness

glycols

related to alcohols; 2 HOs.
Two step process in the liver tuns ethylene glycol into oxalic acid and formic acid

Oxalic acid

crystallizes in your brain and kidneys

formic acid

causes blidness

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH)

sic carbon rings w/ hydrogen.
2 types: pyrogenic and petrogenic

Lead

attacks nervous system and kidneys, carcinogen.

Nickel And Cadmium

commonly found in batteries.
Cadmium selectively ends up in kidneys and is carcinogen
Both are likely to replace calcium.

Cinnabar and Mercury

Fat soluble, found in sharks, swordfish, tuna. toxic to nervous system and kidneys.

Abestos fiber for insulation

form of silicon. When distrubed, breaks off into very small barbed particles. causes mesothelioma.

HERP risk values

human exposure over rodent potency.

Alkaloids

contain nitrogen rings

Oleander

Found on side of highway. Campers get easily poisoned by it due to unawareness.

Poison oak

Contains laccol, easily absorbed into the skin.

Peruvian lilly

similar to poison oak. Often found in bouquets and cut flowers

buttercup

kind of like poison oak. used in wwII to avoid draft.

Nettle

has heart shaped leaves that are gray-green in color. Underside of leaves contain tiny inorganic quartz needles which act like miniscule poison syringes.

Dumbcane

plant contains inorganic n eedles made out of calcium oxalate; slaves punished by being forced eat dumbcane; provided great pain and swelling of the mouth, lips, tongue, throat. Can cause asphyxiation.

Potato

Contains solanine when green.

celery

poison celery contains xanthotoxin is at its highest level. circulates around the blood ending up in the skin. Once exposed to sunlight, symptoms appear which are similar to that of poison oak

lima beans

little amounts of cyanide.

Lime

also has phototoxic effects

allelochemicals

Redwood and pyrethrium daisy.

alkaloids

conatin N. found in tobacco.

glycosides

sugars attached to an alcohol (lima beans)

latones

cyclic ester (tulips)

oxalate

oxalic acid or its salts

phenols

benzen ring w/ at least one OH group (poison oak).

ACD

Allergic contact dermatitis: delayed skin reaction

allelochemical

naturla chemical that affects an organism other than that producing it.

cholinesterase inhibitor

chemical that binds to enzymes that regulate conduction of nerve impulses between enrve cells; often results in paralysis.

coumarin

class of chemicla with fuzed benzene and lactose rings

cyanogenic

capable of forming cyanide

ester

reaction product of an alcohol and an acid

lactone

cyclic ester

teratogenic

causing birth defects

Nicotine

phytochemical: made from ground tobacco in powder form. used to be a pesticide. Very toxic. Black leaf. Falls under category of nicotinoid

rotenone

made from the root of the plant derris; general pesticide. More toxic to fish than humans

pyrethroids

made from chrysantehmums; makes up about 40% of all insecicides used.
Initial extraction from chrysantehmum is called pyrethrum; an elixir of six pyrethrins.

organocholorine insecticide

classical is ddt.

orgonophospathe insecticide

react w/ water breaking down up contanct (hydrolisis).

carbamate insecticide

react w/ wather because of the carbon oxygen bond.

cholorphenoxy herbicide

agent orange is an example. used to erdicate the vietnamese jungle: mimics growth hormone of plants. stimulates uncontrollable growth and uses up the nutrients in theground.
Dioxin found to be an impurity of agent orange.

secondary carcinogen

one which the body has to convert in order for it to become carcinogen.

mutagen

chemical that directly reacts w/ DNA to cause a change in its function

carcinogen

a chemical that causes cancer by any means:
many carcinogens serve to cause cancer by non genetic means such as by supressing the immune system or naturally creasing cell divion rate.

genotoxic carcinogen

chemical that causes cancer by drieclty reacting w/ dna to cause a change in its function

epigenetic carcinogen

a chemical that causes cancer by non genetic means

malignant tumor

invades other cells.

PAHs in Puget Sound, Washington

cause tumors in fish

Sea turtles in hawaiian islands

suffered from fibropapillomas; expected to be caused by planktonic toxins or by viruses

Used for many years as pesticide solvent and detergent. Stimualtes the estrogenic receptor thus creates an overpoduction of the egg protein, vitellogenin in gentypic males. Males become feminized and infertile. Also cause hermaphroditism

Endocrine disruptors and human reproduction

Average sperm count has declined from 113 million/ml to only 66 million/ml
Males considered infertile when count declines below 20 million/ml